Chris Gelardi reports at New York Focus that internal prison records show that Anthony Annucci, the longtime acting commissioner of the New York state prison agency, ordered the illegal shackling of thousands of incarcerated people to desks for hours a day against his department’s public regulations. The Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act went into effect across the state on March 31, placing numerous restrictions on prisons’ and jails’ use of solitary confinement. The law bars placing restraints on residents of certain units while they’re participating in out-of-cell activities. Prison staff can make case-by-case exceptions if they conduct an “individual assessment” that determines that an incarcerated person poses a “significant and unreasonable” safety risk. But three weeks after the HALT law went into effect, Annucci wrote a memo ordering facilities to “utilize restraints any time an incarcerated individual is … participating in out-of-cell programming,” which often lasts for several hours. The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision says all facilities except the Hudson and Adirondack state prisons are acting under Annucci’s memo, which has likely affected over 5,000 people. Prison officials say that not following the law is actually following the law. “After careful consideration of circumstances surrounding the significant increase in violence, including serious injuries to staff and incarcerated individuals, the Acting Commissioner issued the memo,” DOCCS told New York Focus about Annucci’s memo. The department said the memo “comports with HALT and the Department’s responsibilities.” But Julia Salazar, the legislator who sponsored the HALT law, says Annucci’s order is illegal. “This is clearly a violation of the law as written,” she said. Read the full story at New York Focus.